I had a pretty nice Thanksgiving. I went up to my sister's in Omaha. I left Thursday morning and drove 3 hours to get there. The drive was much nicer in my car than it used to be in the Tracker. The cruise control works, there is less wind noise, and I don't get blown all over the road. Dinner was great--my brother-in-law smoked the turkey and my sister made some excellent side dishes. I think she went a little overboard on the marshmallows in the sweet potatoes. She also made pumpkin pie from real pumpkin with ice cream in it. It was very smooth.

Friday morning--not real early mind you--we went to Furniture Mart to see what specials they had. I ended up buying a toaster oven for $15. It normally runs about $40. My sister bought one as well. She bought a lot of stuff. I actually ended up buying a new dining room table. It is not an expensive one, but with the table fully extended it measures 54" x 54". I think the square table is kind of cool. I also got 4 chairs and a bench seat. I have some friends that come over every year and make a gingerbread house and open gifts--and they keep having kids. My current table only seats 4 comfortably and when having bee squeezing 3 adults and 2 kids around it. This year there will be an additional kid and their baby will bring it to 4 kids when she gets old enough to sit at the table. It doesn't get delivered for another week, but I am kind of excited.

I have been buying quite a few Christmas presents already. I already purchased and wrapped the gifts for my sister's kids and left them there when I went up for Thanksgiving. I have bought most of the gifts for my friend's family. I have half of my niece's family. I know what I want to get my nephew's family and then I have 2 nephews and 3 niece's left. I have the gift for the sister I am supposed to buy for this year. My parents are the hard ones. One of my other sister's husband suggested we paint Mom and Dad's house. They have a brick house, but the trim and the accents need to be painted. I had several of my sisters call me about it. Everyone is a little uneasy about it. I need to call my little brother and ask him what he thinks. He lives closer to them and has seen the house recently. My sister who lives in town with my parents said that the last time it was painted, they did not remove the gutters and so when the gutters came down the wood was basically bare. I am still not sure why they took the gutters down. Anyhow, they are my dilemma.

I am actually looking forward to Christmas this year. I need to book my flights, but I am going to my parents as usual, but instead of just the one sister being there, my sister in Georgia and her family should be there as well as my little brother. My baby sister and her family will be there on Christmas day. Since there will be 5 of us there, that is more than half. I am just not sure when my little brother's daughter will be there. She is spending a good bit of the holiday with her mother. It would be more exciting if more of my nephews and nieces could be there with their families, but the youngest nephew will be there and that will be a lot of fun.

The weather is getting cold and we even got a dusting of snow this evening. I had originally planned to drive the Tracker in weather like this, but I let a friend borrow it because he is having problems with his truck. I am just not sure that I would actually want to drive it. With the Tracker being so light, it gets blown all over the road in inclement weather. Also, the top is loose so there is a lot of wind noise and you actually get a draught. I just don't really want to drive my car in the salt, plus it has 4 wheel drive.

I need to get some work done. Things at work seem to be moving along as planned, but I have to keep on top of everything.

It has been a while since I have posted anything because my computer keeps giving me an error every time the browser tries to open a new window. It really sucks. I try every now and again to post something and when it doesn't work, I just stop.

We have been playing a lot of Fluxx, some Gloom and some Bang. I really enjoy playing games. This past week end I went to some of my dance friends house for a dirty shirt party. The idea was to wear a dirty shirt--either literally or figuratively. There were quite a few very interesting shirts. Mine basically was an advertisement for Derty Hoes--Every Man Needs a Derty Hoe. Anyhow, we played Skip-Bo and Catch Phrase. Catch Phrase is a really good party game because it can be played with just about any number of people and it is just a lot of fun. You split up into two teams and you sit in a circle with every other person being on the same team. One player looks at the word on the disk and tries to get one of their team members to guess the word. Once the word is correctly guessed, the disk is passed to the next player who clicks to the next word and tries to get their team to guess the word. There is a timer and when the timer buzzes the team not holding the disk gets a point and has the option to guess the current word. If they guess correctly, they will get a second point. The first team to get to a specified number of points wins. I don't remember the number of points you need to have. We generally play girls against the guys when we play. Everybody had a great time with it on Saturday.

With the holidays coming up, I have been trying to determine what to get the multitude of people for Christmas. Meanwhile everyone keeps asking me what I want for Christmas. I really want a plasma TV with built in DVD player for the basement to replace the TV that went out, but I would never expect anyone to spend that kind of money. It seems like everything I need, I just go get and most of the things I want are much better remaining things to want instead of things to have. A friend of mine did not understand that until he thought about his wife and how she likes the idea of getting things, but doesn't really appreciate having them. I think there is a lot that I like the idea of having, but if I actually had any of them they would just sit somewhere unappreciated.

As for what to get people, I have a closet full of Darth Taters and Spud Troopers for some of my nephews and great nephews. Unfortunately, they are too young for all the Legos in the closet. I don't know why I buy all these things. I have tubs of Legos and I have a lot of the Star Wars Legos. When they first came out, I thought it would smart to buy duplicate copies of the sets and save them for later and sell them to collectors. I am no longer betting on the collector market, but I have a bunch of stuff just taking up space. I figure eventually I will be able to give them as gifts.

Anyhow, I hope everybody has a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

I did not go to the World Wide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day. Instead I go together with my gaming friends and we played our current campaign on Saturday. Evidently the official WWDNDGD stuff did not arrive at my friend's mom's store in Manhattan, so he stayed in town and we gamed at his house. I feel kind of bad. I had somewhat harassed the local game store owner (Table Top Games) about having some sort of activity that day--and then I didn't go. It was nice to play the other game though. We actually seemed to make a lot of progress. My character leveled up and he is now a multi-classed Rogue/Fighter.

Speaking of games, we finally played Gloom by Atlas Games--they also make Lunch Money. I really enjoyed the game. I had bought from the local gaming store before Halloween at the same time I bought Fluxx by Looney Labs. We had been playing Fluxx a lot lately. It is a very fast paced and simple game. It is also a lot of fun. Gloom actually fits my mood a little better. The goal of the game is to get the least pathos points on your dead family members when any player loses the last member of their family. You play modifiers with either negative or positive pathos points on family members, you can play events to do special things, or you can have your family member have an untimely death. The text on the cards is funny and it is so cool that the cards are transparent.

I was so excited when I got home tonight, my copy of the Firefly soundtrack had arrived from Amazon.com. Unfortunately I need to be heading to bed, so I didn't play it yet. I plan to listen to it tomorrow on the way to work.

You can't take the sky from me.

For some reason I feel the need to post on the blog here, even though there really isn't anything to say. I only had one dance lesson tonight because my instructor wasn't feeling well. She did mention that she wants me to see the judge this week, which means she wants me to buy more lessons. I already bought some this year and I told her I wasn't buying any more. She knows I mean it when I say I won't buy any more, but she hopes that I won't be able to say that to her manager who actually handles all that part.

I am somewhat excited that this weekend is World Wide D&D Game day. Of course, I think I have said that already. I am still trying to decide if I will go to Manhattan, KS with some friends or if I will stay in town and go to my local game store. If I don't go to Manhattan, it will save me a lot of time and I get to do things on my schedule. I just need to decide before Saturday.

Here I am, reneging on my promise--there will be no pumpkin pictures. I went to the Pumpkin Carvin' party last night, but I ended up not carving a pumpkin--nor did I take many pictures. I spent quite a bit of time searching for a pumpkin, but once I was at the party there really wasn't the space and time to carve it. There were a lot of kids at the party and as they have grown older, it is really more about the kids. Not having any kids myself, it is a little depressing for everything to change in that direction. It is great for all the others though, and I can't say that I would change anything. This now makes the second year I haven't carved a pumpkin. Last year I was working on a implementation of a project and had been up for 48 hours by the time I got to the party. Not only was I late to the party, but I didn't even have a pumpkin. I was worried that I was so tired that I might hurt myself. I generally use sharp tools to carve away the skin instead of using the kid friendly saws in the kits you buy.

Yesterday I saw on the internet that Dremel had come out with a pumpkin carving kit and I went to my local Lowe's and Ace hardware looking for one, but they have been sold out for days. It looks like it is impossible to find at this point. I already have a Dremel and if I could only find out which bit they are using, I bet mine would work just fine. I am not sure if I will ever try it though. Who knows what will happen next year. I could have carved the pumpkin I bought today, but I had so much stuff to do and I wasn't prepared to spend an hour or so carving. As a matter of fact, I shouldn't be typing this in. I really should be working on work stuff.

I think I might be experiencing a bit of depression. I just seem so tired all the time and it is so hard to get out of bed in the morning. Even at work it is a struggle to get anything done. Somehow I will get through it, but man it is hard. So, on we go, trudging through the days. The good news is that my friend's were planning to have their daughter baptized on Nov. 4, but things did not go well and now that weekend is open for me again. November 4 is World Wide D&D Game Day--and now I can participate. I am excited about that at least.

I am waiting for my cake to finish baking for the Pumpkin Carvin' party this evening. I am making something called Apple Spice Trifle--it requires a spice cake to start. Good thing it is easy to make a box cake. Once the cake is finished and it cools, it gets layered between a cream cheese apple mixture. It actually tastes pretty good.

I still need to go find a pumpkin to carve. Normally I would stop at a church on my way to my friends' house, but they moved this summer and now the church is not on the way. I hate picking out a pumpkin--I don't know why though. I may stop at a grocery store, but I worry that they won't have anything good at this point.

The cake is now cooling and all that I need to add to the apple cream cheese mixture is the non-dairy whipped topping which I will do right before I start layering. The recipe actually calls for Stouffer's Scalloped Apples and normally I can't find them so I substitute apple pie filling which doesn't have as many apple pieces. I actually found the Stouffer's Apples this time and I am anxious to see how it tastes.

Back to the pumpkin carving. Over the last several years I have started just peeling away the skin of the pumpkin instead of cutting through the wall of the pumpkin. I found some patterns on the 'net that use both carving the skin and cutting through the pumpkin to create more depth in the picture. I am not sure if I am going to try one of them this year though. There is a really cool one of Sauron from Lord of the Rings, but I am not sure most people would actually see it. There is also one of Gollum that I think is kind of cool.

I will definitely be posting a picture or two from the Pumpkin Carvin' this evening.

It has been a long week already. Over the weekend I filled in holes around the yard. It took longer than I had expected. First I had to rake the first fall of leaves and then I sprayed the entire yard with this "Earthwise" product that is supposed help break up the clay in my yard. Then I mixed topsoil with some lime (again to break up the clay) and some cayenne and black pepper. The pepper is supposed to help keep unwanted varmits out of my yard. I had a problem with voles earlier in the season--that is actually where many of the holes came from. I turned on the sprinkler system after I was finish and of course, then it rained. It was good that it rained because the "Earthwise" stuff needed to be watered in anyway.

After all that I went looking for something to wear to Grandma's funeral. My sister and my mother called to tell me I would be a pall bearer--my younger brother would be one as well. My brother called me to ask me to bring a coat for him to wear. Unfortunately, my suits don't fit well any more. Saturday night I went all over town to several stores looking for something suitable. Eventually I bought a complete outfit at Kohl's. It was fairly late by the time I got home. The pants were too long and the coat was a little tight, but I figured I would work it out.

Sunday was game day. I went over to a friends and played Dungeons and Dragons. I have been trying to document our game on another blog (Gareth Oldrich in Ados). I am behind in updating the information. Sunday night I did laundry and packed.

I had to get up a 3:00 AM to get ready and catch my 6:00 AM flight to Seattle. The plane ride was actually not bad. I waited for my older sister's plane to get in (about an hour) and then we picked up the rental car and drove to Wenatchee. I was kind of concerned about the drive since I don't really know this particular sister very well. I actually have problems knowing what to talk about with any of my sisters. I usually just let them talk and I listen. It was a good conversation and a good trip. Before I knew it, it was 2 1/2 hours later and we were at our destination. The return trip on Wednesday was just as pleasant.

The funeral on Tuesday was actually quite pleasant as well. I was a little concerned when very few people showed up for the viewing on Monday night. One of my cousins showed up with a couple of my second cousins. My mom's sister and my mom have been estranged for most of my life that I can remember. When Grandma started having problems they were forced to start dealing with each other again. Over the last ten years they have developed a more tolerant relationship. The main point is that growing up we never visited my aunt and I never really got to know my cousins or their families. It was very strange to be in a room with all these relations and have no idea who they were. My aunt's family also has a hard time with death. One of my cousins had a son killed not too long ago by a circus wagon. Her whole family worked at this children's circus over the summer. Her son had not wanted to do it this year, but they pushed him into it. One day as they were unloading something, the wagon toppled over and crushed him. Since they all have lived in the same town together, it was devastating to all of them. Evidently, during a viewing or something, the mortician came out and moved the body and a huge bubble of liquid move around in his neck--they were all very disturbed by this.

Anyhow, most of them did not want to see Grandma lying in the casket. It is weird, but in Washington, they open the casket at the end of the funeral for everyone to get one last look. Most of my aunt's family--including my aunt--left before the casket was re-opened. It was a very nice day for the ceremony and my brother-in-law who is a Chaplin in the Air Force co-presided over the funeral.

After the funeral we all went to my aunt's house to have some lunch. We spent some time getting to know each other and talking about Grandma. I always feel like I stand out at things like this, but it was a very nice time. After that I went back to the hotel and napped. We went to Applebee's (my mom and my siblings) for dinner and then back to my aunt's house to say goodbye. I spent pretty much all day Wednesday traveling.

One of the best things was that I got to see my youngest nephew. He is so cute even if he looks a little like a chimpanzee. My family is not very tall and my poor nephew is very small. He is so cute though with his red hair.

Unfortunately I had to go back to work today. I should have done more at work today, but it is so overwhelming. I am even further behind now than I was before. There is something wrong with this project that I just can't put my finger on. Part of my problem is that I just joined the project within the last month and everyone else has been around since the beginning. Plus, I am responsible for the major piece of the whole thing.

I am going to a friend's house this weekend for his annual Pumpkin Carving Party. I should have a picture of some pumpkins next time.

Carpe Diem
Seize the Day

Tuesday night I successfully checked out of my Intermediate Silver II dances. It wasn't nearly as hard as it has been in the past. Normally, my instructor makes me dance each step by myself to prove that I know the step. This time I actually got to dance with my instructor through the checkout. It makes it so much easier. My only problem is my contra-body movement (CBM)--basically turning my top half one way and my bottom half another way. The smooth dances have a lot more CBM than I would have thought when I started out. Being kind of thick in the middle, it is sometimes hard for me to get CBM. My doctor would probably rather I would put more CBM into my dancing to help me exercise the muscles in my mid-section. It is kind of nice to get through the hardest part. Now all that is left is to dance during graduation in front of the judge. The hardest part about that is fitting into my tux.

On a different note, my job still sucks. And I did not win the Powerball--I still have to continue to work. It was so nice to dream about winning 300 million dollars and what I would do with it. Unfortunately, someone in Oregon won. I am happy for that person, but I still wish it was me.

Wow. It has been awhile since I posted anything. Or at least it seems that way. If anyone is keeping count, I have seen Serenity 5 times now (paid for 3). Saturday night after the social at the dance club, I convinced several people (5 to be exact) to see the movie with me. I think they all enjoyed it. They laughed at all the right parts and even jumped in the right parts. I think it is a testament to the universal appeal of the film when you consider that the average age of the five people was over 50. We saw the movie at 10:40 PM and there were probably 6 or 7 people also in the theater. I thought that was decent considering the time.
The rest of my weekend was pretty full.

Saturday morning I went out to try and get my GEO Tracker moving. It has been parked for quite awhile in my driveway and something rusted together keeping the breaks from disengaging. I am not that mechanically inclined, so none the less I was unable to unstick the stuck thing. I called a friend to give me some advice and he ended up coming down with his two boys. We jacked up the rear driver's side and the wheel spun freely. As we let the car down, it made a pretty loud creaking sound. We then proceeded to jack up the rear passenger side, and that tire spun freely. As we stood around wondering if the front wheels were stuck, I decided to try to move the car. It actually moved. I think we freed up whatever was stuck when we let the car down on the driver's side.

Having freed the Tracker, I thanked my friend as they drove away and then went to the Grass Pad to get some advice on my lawn. My lawn sucks. I have somewhat ignored it for the last six years (since I moved in) and now I am paying for it. At the end of last year I had a sprinkler system put in, but the damage had already been done. One of the problems was that I had voles. These are little nocturnal mice that eat the roots of plants. Unlike moles who raise the ground, voles actually leave little paths on top of the ground. I have fairly deep ruts in my front yard from these little critters. Anyhow, I bought some stuff to spay on the lawn to loosen up the clay and make it agreeable to growing grass. I also bought 50 lbs of grass seed. After that I went to Lowe's and bought some equipment to fix my lawn: broadcast spreader, shovel, dirt, mulch fork. I still haven't done anything. I am a real procrastinator.

On Sunday, I found out that my maternal grandmother had passed away. I can't say that I wasn't expecting it. She has been in a nursing home for about 10 years and for the last month her body had been slowly shutting down. It was similar to what we saw when my paternal grandmother passed away. She stopped eating, she wasn't fully digesting anything she was taking. Several of my sisters had even flown out to Washington state to see before she passed away. They were in Washington when it happened. They had left for the evening and Grandma passed away a couple of hours later. I personally think she finally let herself leave once she saw them and knew it would be OK. Due to several reasons, her funeral won't be until next week. I have not received so many calls from my sisters as I did this week end. All of them seeming to complain about the others. My younger brother is actually using some of his frequent flyer miles so that he and my other two sisters can be there for the funeral. I have made my own arrangements. When my family gets together it is not always a good thing. They usually do pretty well for events like funerals and weddings. I just have to have a little hope.

Late Sunday afternoon was our Home Owner's Association meeting. It was quite interesting. It has been awhile since I have attended one. I saw my neighbors (who I do know) and many people that I don't. Some of the houses have changed since I was last at a meeting. There were some really young people there. They were probably early to mid-twenties. That really isn't that young, but when you are pushing 40 it sure seems like it. Anyhow, one of these young people is now the HOA president and my neighbor is concerned there will be a lot of drunkfest type parties. Most of the people that live around me are older with older kids and I know they wouldn't want that type of thing. It will be interesting as time goes by.

Intaminatis fulget honoribus
Untarnished, she shines with honor
--Wofford College motto

I really dislike this new project I am on. I am now stuck in a tech lead role which makes me more than an individual performer, but does not put me in charge--which is where I usually fall. When I was assigned the project my manager said he wanted me to get more technical experience with the tools being used. Unfortunately, I have worked with the lead architect and the requirements manager for a long period of time and they both are trying to pull me into their world. Normally, I wouldn't mind so much, but the project is well under way and I am new to the project and in a lead role. I need to be spending my time getting up to speed and creating order out of chaos.

As I said, the project has been going on for at least 4 or 5 months and I have been on the project approximately two weeks. In the two weeks since I joined, it has been determined that we need to go back and create high level process flow documents and the entire team is being reorganized into functional teams to fix some problems. There are numerous communications problems and no one seems to know what the other is doing and no one has control over the entire solution. I have been moved from an individual contributor role to a functional team lead role. I now have to figure out what my team needs to be focused on, determine what everyone is currently doing, and work a miracle with organization--all without missing any of the original delivery dates. The good news is that I actually have experience making this work as opposed to most of the other leads who are not usually in this sort of role. If I could keep the requirements manager and the architect off my back, it would be much easier.

Aside from all that, this project is requiring a lot of time and has an awful lot of meetings--something I am hoping to change. What this means is that I have not been able to play games with some friends either during lunch or after work. That part really sucks. It is kind of sad that the main reason I go to work is for the game playing. A good friend of mine actually was able to stay late tonight to play games and I was on the phone the entire time.

Also, what I forgot to mention is that there are a couple of sales pursuits that I was working on that are still requiring some of my time. Right now, I really need to be working on a cost model to separate the resources costs out by development phase so the salesman can try to align the potential client's payment with the actual costs incurred. I have to admit that I don't understand what he is doing, but it is definitely causing me more work.

Maybe I will win the Powerball tonight. Maybe...

Tonight was dance night. I have been taking ballroom dance lessons for over 5 years and I really do enjoy it. My problem tonight is that my instructor is trying to get me through the upcoming graduation. I have twelve dances that I work on and I am trying to graduate out of the Intermediate Siler II level in my secondary dances. I have 6 primary dances--waltz, foxtrot, tango, rhumba, east coast swing, and cha cha. My 6 secondary dances are west coast swing, bolero, Viennese waltz, quickstep, samba, and mambo. I happened to prefer the smooth dances over the rhythm (or latin dances). My favorites tend to be waltz and foxtrot, although I really enjoy Viennese waltz and quickstep.

Back to the checkout--we were working on the west coast patterns and I was just having all kinds of problems remembering the steps. I always dread the checkout part. You have to walk through the steps by yourself without a partner. All the women say it must be easier for us men because we have to lead the pattern all the time, so walking through it should be a piece of cake. The reality is that when you are used to the woman being there and you use the woman's location as a key to know what to do. When I walk through the pattern, I have a hard time pretending a woman is in the empty spot and I don't have her weight or her motion to help me continue through the step. When you are so used to a connection with a partner, it is hard to dance without that connection. In the end, I still need to practice the balboa kicks, but I think I know the steps.

I managed to get thought the samba steps without too much difficulty and the struggles with west coast took more time than I would have liked, but I did get to dance a couple of waltzes and I even managed to get through a couple of Viennese waltz steps. I would have liked to have gotten to quickstep, though. I feel like we have been ignoring quickstep and I am uncomfortable with that. Part of the problem is that quickstep is an advanced dance and most people don't have it on their program. What that means is during the lesson, quickstep music is not played often. You can sometimes dance quickstep to an east coast swing, but if everyone is dancing on the edge of the floor instead of moving to the center like they are supposed to, then it is still very difficult. I can't concentrate on the steps if I am constantly maneuvering around other people. I know I shouldn't complain so much, but it is still frustrating.

The graduation ceremony is the first Friday in November so I have until then to get these things in order or I have to wait until Spring. My instructor will deinitely not be happy if I wait until Spring.

You know how they say "the cobbler's children have no shoes", there seems to be way too much truth in it. I work for a large Information Technology company and was recently assigned to an internal project. I joined the project in flight and I am very scared. The project has high visibility and a very tight time frame. Worse, we have processes to manage projects and it seems the team is only vaguely aware of these. I have been working with the sales team for the past several years and we constantly are raving about our world class processes. It is very disappointing to find that these processes are ignored for an internal project. The even more disappointing thing is that the design for the solution seems to take a next generation tool and creates a legacy product. I feel really frustrated with the leadership team, as they don't seem to understand the situation. Since the project is replacing a legacy product, no one has taken the time to discuss next generation concepts with the business team who have provided the requirements. Since they so not know better they are creating legacy type requirements and the project team is unable to translate into something more.

The other frustration I have is with a diverse and disperse team. I understand the value of diversity, and I do believe with diversity you can get a "whole is greater than the sum if it parts" kind of thing going on. But it takes work to make it happen, just throwing diverse people together does not make synergy. It takes an understanding of the cultures and the ability to create a team culture that melds the individuals into a team. I have spent some time working with individuals from India, and it truly is a fascinating culture. Still, it can be very challenging in a team with Indian members. Indians have a different view on life and family that bleeds over into their work lives. I did not realize that very often there are multiple generations of a family living together with a patriarch who makes the important decisions. As Americans we are often pushed out of the family home early in life and forced to make decisions on our own, where many Indians are not. Quite the opposite, they have great respect for their elders and look to them for important decisions. In the workplace, they are often hierarchical and look to the leadership team to make the decisions. For the last ten years, we have been trying to empower the employee to make more decisions and to take ownership. This is still a new concept to the Indian worker. Perhaps some of this is leftover from the caste system, but until we acknowledge these differences and deal with them, diverse teams will not reach their potential.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Serenity for the fourth time was still just as good. It was even in a mediocre theater. I paid particular attention to the music after having listened to the soundtrack. I still think there are a couple of pieces of music that should have been on the soundtrack, but without some of the movie sounds, the music lacks. The more I see the movie, the more I feel it is a very well done piece of cinematography. I love the story line. I feel for and with the characters. And I feel the coldness of space and the warmth of Serenity (the ship). One of the strongest emotional parts is when the crew has to deal with the captain turning the ship, their home, into a Reaver abomination. There are definitely a few scenes with a much more overt emotional price, but the emotional conflict from the time the Operative says "You're not a Reaver, Mal, you're a human man..." and you see that look of determination come across his face, until his speech about how he is the captain and they either need to do what he says or get off his boat... It is very tense for anyone who has seen the TV series and understands Serenity as the 10th character (in the TV show, Book and Inara were on the ship making a total of nine people). Even the fourth time it was something of an emotional roller coaster. Maybe more so, because when Wash was flying to pick up the mule after the heist, I got a little misty.

In my opinion Serenity is definitely a soon to be classic. While it might not do well in the theaters, it will always have a following. Its classic themes and likeable characters, and the battles of sorta good versus mostly bad all contribute to a movie that could be enjoyed by a wide range of people. If only those people knew that they should go see it.

Si monumentum requiris circumspice
"If you seek his monument, look around"
--epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren

I bought the Serenity soundtrack on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, I was unable to post to the blog until today. I am not one who normally buys soundtracks, especially one with only instrumental music. Now I have a decent collection of classical music, but movie soundtracks are a different animal.

I like the soundtrack, but much like many others, I was disappointed that the instrumental version of the Firefly theme played at the end of the credits is not there. I am not sure if there was some sort of music rights issue or if they were just waiting to put it on the Firefly soundtrack due out later in October.

The music was not as moving on my car stereo as it was in the theater. It seems like the themes in the music change too quickly. I guess the movie moved pretty fast, but I think the soundtrack cuts up the themes a bit. For some reason I find it very reminiscent of LOTR:Return of the King. I hear the same kind of haunting solitude in the themes. It rings out quite a bit in the more somber themes in Serenity. While listening to the music I had pictures of Aragorn looking very solemn come to mind. The soundtrack is definitely something to be listened to at home on the stereo--the softer themes are lost in the car.

"She's tore up plenty, but she'll fly true." Zoe in Serenity

I saw Serenity again Friday night with several other friends. Because 1 person couldn't make it to an earlier movie we went to the 9:50 showing. We stayed at work and played games until we headed to the theater. The game of choice was Bang! from DaVinci games. Several of us have been playing it a lot lately so the games can be fairly quick. The part I hate is where some of the other guys are always trying to tell the rest of us how to play. Every time you play a card they tell that they wouldn't have played it that way and then go into a long dissertation about every possible strategy and why they would have chosen their strategy over yours. There are times when I just don't feel like playing because I don't want to deal with that. I really like to play games, but Bang! is an elimination game (players are eliminated until only the Sheriff remains) and I don't really care for elimination games. Some of the other games we have been playing are Oriente, Bohnanza, Totally Renamed Spy Game, Spite and Malice, and of course any version of Munchkin (from Steve Jackson Games).

Anyhow, I saw the movie for a third time and it was late in the evening for me and I didn’t nod off once. I was still kept engaged throughout the entire movie and I stilled jumped when the Reaver pole comes through the Serenity view port. It was still funny in the funny parts and still sad in the sad parts. I can’t wait for a soundtrack. After three times, I am still enthralled by the music. The score just works so well with the cinematography. It works better than in the TV series, which I think is saying a lot. I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more people in the theater, but I heard the estimated take for the weekend was just over $10 million. It is second after Flightplan for the weekend. I think all the Browncoats are a little disappointed in the numbers, but there still seems to be a lot of energy around keeping the movie going. Personal messages from director Joss Whedon on the Browncoat website are keeping spirits up. A lot of us are really hoping for a sequel to the BDM.

"You know what the first rule of flying is?"

"Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughtta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home."

Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity

OK. I saw Serenity last night and it was a great movie. I had already seen it once in a prior screening, but the sound was bad and I missed some of the dialogue. Last night everything was clear and it made the movie so much better. I am still very excited 24 hours afterwards. I am hoping to see the movie again this weekend with some friends, if they ever make a decision on when they want to go. I may also try to get my dance friends to go after the Saturday Social.

Unfortunately, I am awful tired from everything. I stayed up too late on Sunday trying to get my house cleaned up for a Serenity shindig on Monday. Then I was up late with the shindig. Last night I went to the movie and then stayed up late writing the review. I have been drinking a lot of Coke to stay awake at work, but it also has been keeping me up at night. I will be glad when the week end comes and I can sleep in. It is really nice that my house is so clean. I feel less stressed when my house is clean. Now I just need to replace the TV in the basement so that I will continue to walk on the treadmill to lose some weight. It is difficult to grow old. Between the weight, the cholesterol, the aches and pains--it just doesn't seem fair. I guess this it the payment for not paying more attention to things when I was younger.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson

PS. The picture is from the Charleston Aquarium in Charleston, South Carolina

Joss Whedon's Serenity: A Review

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

I just left the Serenity Blogger Bonanza and I must first thank Universal Pictures, Grace Hill Media, and townhall.com for making the screening possible and letting me in as "press". The film was shown in the second best theater in the complex (the first being IMAX) and I got to sit in the premo seats which were reserved for press. I was a bit disappointed by the number of empty seats, but it was a very large theater and I don't think the screening was well published. My friends had all bailed on me, but I met up with a fellow Freestate Browncoat and we chatted a bit before the show.

I have to say that I go to the movies for entertainment. I generally don't tear a movie apart trying to analyze every little bit, I either liked it or I didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed Serenity, but I felt I had to think more upon this if I was going to give a review.

I think the most striking thing was the cinematography. Unlike a lot of sci-fi films you feel the closeness on the ship, the dirt of the universe, and the frustration of life. The play of shadows in the ship and the starkness of daylight on the planets showed how lighting can enhance the mood of a scene. I was moved by the sound--the silence in the external space scenes and then the loud roar as the ship entered a planet's atmosphere. It was exhilerating. And it helps that someone recognized that there is no sound in space. The score moved with the story and always seemed to add to the scene without overpowering it.

And then there are the actors. The cast fit well together and the scenes flowed naturally. I have to say that I felt Sean Maher was a bit too stiff in some scenes, but given his character... I just don't know if it was the acting or how the character was portrayed. Nathan Fillion's (Malcolm Reynolds) and Alan Tudyk's (Hoban 'Wash' Washburne) comic delivery were fantastic. They had great lines and the delivery did them justice. Jewel Staite (Kaylee Frye) also delivered quite well. Unfortunately the story focussed mostly on Malcolm and River Tam (Summer Glau), so we didn't get to see the fullness of the other actors or their characters. Adam Baldwin's portrayal of Jayne Cobb was excellent. You wanted to hate him, but there was something about him that kept you from it.

The best part was the feeling of realness. You just felt like it was possibly real life--people got dirty and stayed that way. There are several scenes where Malcolm is frustrated with a situation and reacts as any man would. During a heated argument Malcom asks Jayne if he wants to run the ship and Jayne answers "yes", Malcolm is at a loss for words and says "well, you can't". It is something everyone can identify with.

The movie kept me engaged the entire time. In the words of the 'verse: it's shiny, very shiny, Don't take my word for it, go see the movie.

Visit Serenity: The Official Movie Website for more informatio.

What's in a Name?

Tonight I was hosting a shindig to watch a few episodes of Firefly in preparation for Serenity this weekend. Unfortunately, only one of the Freestate Browncoats was able to show up and I couldn't convince any of my friends to show up. We watched Out of Gas and Ariel. Out of Gas is definitely one of the best episodes. I learned about these things called the viral marketing campaign. Basically there are these clips of a River Tam unterview at school. Evidently, these clips started showing up on message boards like viruses. Anyhow, the clips can be found at http://www.session416.com.

As for the title of the blog entry, I decided I was going to start gigving a title to each post. This post is about the name of the blog and the name of the poster. No, Brock Garthok is not my true name. I am a gaming geek and Brock Garthok was a DND character I played several years ago. The character was a Dwarven Sorcerer (3.o) who had a sense of humor which was unusual in a dwarf. Brock comes from Boogie Nights. Mark Wahlberg's character used the stage name Brock Landers for his movie appearances. For some reason it seemed comical in the context, so I used it. Garthok comes from Coneheads.

Dave Thomas as the Highmaster of the Coneheads makes everyone he is unpleased with "narfle the Garthok". The Garthok turns out to be a huge snarling beast that those so condemned must face. When Beldar finally faces the Garthok he starts singing Tainted Love by Soft Cell. It is somewhat comical, but also in a way quite moving. As he sings "Sometimes I feel I've got to (UHN UHN) get away... I've got to (UHN UHN) run away", you can see his courage building as he fashions a makeshift golf club and hits a golfball size rock into the mouth of the Garthok and chokes it. It is that life defining moment that some people face. Beldar realizes at this momnet the importance of his family and makes the decision to return to Earth to make his daughter happy.

There are some that believe everyone has at least one moment like this in their life. I am not so sure.


Serenity opens Sept 30 in the US at a theater near you!

Well, I received confirmation that I am on the list for the blogger bonanza in Olathe. I am very excited about this opportunity. I also got access to some really cool publicity artwork. This is actually my test post to see how well this works. If all goes well, there will be an image on the left hand side of this post. The email also said I had to publish the following paragraph:

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

This is the official synopsis. For a quick paragraph I think it does a pretty good job, I just don't think you can sum up the movie in a paragraph.

"May not have been on the winning side, still not convinced it was the wrong one." --Malcolm Reynolds

Now that I have a blog, I've decided to I might as well use. So here goes...

Can someone tell me why with all the destruction to the oil refineries, we haven't seen any pictures? Some friends and I were discussing the idea that the oil companies seem to be raising prices every time some little thing happens. With the threat of hurricane Rita, gas prices rose before she even entered the gulf. The only pictures any of us could remember was one wrecked derrick and a field of tanks partially under water. And those tanks are made to withstand quite a bit.

One friend commented about a fictitious TV spot with Pres. Bush. Appearing in NO he starts by talking about the terribleness of the destructive forces of the hurricane and how it will take a long time to rebuild. "But I have good news..." he continues, "I just made a killing on oil futures." Maybe you had to be there.

I am not necessarily one who wants to put all the blame on the feds. I have long believed in states rights--I think it comes from growing up in the first state to secede from the union. I am definitely concerned that Rhenquist and O'Connor are both being replaced. Both were supporters of states rights. I find it interesting that all these people start blaming the feds when they need something, yet are the first to get upset when the feds don't give the control back to the local governments after the initial clean up is done. I have to admit that Homeland Security scared me a bit, because it could put a lot of power into the hands of the federal government. Since I wasn't in any of the states hit by the hurricane, it is hard for me to say who should be blamed for the mishaps, but I can say that it makes me proud to see what the American population can do when we are sufficiently motivated. It is disappointing to think that it takes a tragedy of this nature to make some people come together.

Most disappointing of all are the people who have been taking advantage of the situation. You hear about the looting, the destruction of private property, and the improper use of funds and you wonder how they can be from the same population. Again, I have no first hand knowledge of the activities, but it sure seems that for every good and honest person, there is one who is the opposite. In this country we have always valued diversity, but I am not sure this is what is meant.

Dum Spiro, Spero
"While I breathe, I hope" --South Carolina state motto.

P.S. It looks like I will be seeing the blogger screening of Serenity (Big Damn Movie) on Sept 27. I am very excited. There are 7 days until the official release of Serenity.

So, I am starting this blog hoping to maybe get to see another advanced screening of the BDM--Serenity. If you don't know, Serenity is the big screen sequel to the short lived TV series Firefly by Joss Whedon. Yes, the Joss Whedon who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. If you haven't seen the show, check it out. I have been assured by my friends who saw the movie at the screening, but had not watched the TV series that the movie is still an excellent movie. With the exception of some sound problems, I thought the movie was great. Maybe not Lord of the Rings great, but definitely Matrix great and greater than any of the recent star wars movies.

Check out the movie site http://www.serenitymovie.com -- the movie opens Friday Sept 30.